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London’s Singing Organ-Grinder
Great tunes, great doggerel, small simians
100% home-made arrangements and original music, classified by language, function, theme and season.
Details:
Repertoire by language | Repertoire by season |
Repertoire by theme | The seven ages of man |
Audio excerpts | |
How to write... |
Please note:
Title | Artist | La | Year | Comments | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sleeping Beauty | George Szirtes | en | 2016 | A telling fragment from one of my favourite contemporary poets. | |
Pablow the blowfish | Miley Cyrus | en | 2015 | Almost as good as Fluffy. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Shibboleth | Reginald Pikedevant | 2014 | Brief ditty on the onomastic pitfalls of the United Kingdom. | ||
Déu, vull ser artista, al meu cor / God, I want to be an artist, in my heart | The Singing Organ-Grinder | ca en | 2014 | Hi ha més estrofes, cada menys políticament correcta / Each verse increasingly unlikely to get past today's censors. | |
The Eddic Poem of the Vikinges Who Do Go Berserk | Le Vostre GC | en | 2014 | Nyne vikinges and a mightye troll / Joyne eight moore for sea patrol. | |
Croquetón / Sausage Man | The Singing Organ-Grinder | es en | 2013 | Incidental music written for a children's story by Eva Muñoz about what happens when your food comes fast and in Godzilla-sized portions. Virtual excerpt: Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Villancico linuxero | Pánico en el núcleo (Panic in the kernel) | es | 2011 | Linux carol disparages Windows and Mac, makes Spanish nerds laugh: Que le den al Guindos, que le den al Mac, / que yo uso Linux y me va genial. | |
Lady Java | Oracle / Lady Gaga | en | 2010 | ||
Anys i anys... per molts anys! | Club Super 3 | ca | 2001 | Catalan birthday song, obligatory fare during school gigs in and around Barcelona. | |
Gacela del amor imprevisto | Lorca / Sans Rancune / The Singing Organ-Grinder | es | 1998 | Lorca as universal revolutionary instead of reinventor of the Castilian romance: La sangre de tus venas en mi boca, / tu boca ya sin luz para mi muerte (reggaecito cojito con tango) | |
Cats on Mars | The Seatbelts | en | 1998 | Quasi-Japanese shit for your miniskirt moods. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
My pervert doppelganger | Momus | en | 1997 | Best song to mention Smithfield market, 'where refrigerated lorries unload dead cows.' | |
Copla del viudo del submarino | Juan Antonio Canta | es | 1996 | From the last Andalusian avant-gardist: En el fondo del mar tengo yo / Una novia en silencio / Un poquito de pescaito frito / Me trae su recuerdo Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Te quiero | Juan Antonio Canta | es | 1996 | Macabre ballad of frustrated love from the great farewell album of the last Andalusian surrealist, Las increíbles aventuras de Juan Antonio Canta, set to a marionettish accompaniment. | |
Bacteriën / Bacteria | Willem Wilmink / Harry Bannink | nl en | 1996 | One of Wilmink's so-called intermezzos. When uncle Steve had had a poo / He scraped by hand each glob of goo / From his scrawny bum etc etc | |
Miss van Houten's Coffee Shoppe | Martin Newell | en | 1995 | Great number from the wild man of Wivenhoe's Off White Album. | |
Een jongen krijgt een meisjesbrief / A boy receives a girlish note | Willem Wilmink / Harry Bannink | nl en | 1995 | One of Wilmink's so-called intermezzos. So in / My palace in the tallest tower / I read that round name, hour by hour: / Eva Cohen. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
The heart asks pleasure first | Michael Nyman | 1993 | From The Piano. Someone asked for it once. Advantage: I don't sing. | ||
Carloons in the Anguish languish | Doc Clay | en | 1992 | Thrill your friends with a homophonic carol service featuring classics like 'Oh, ladle down off Bath lay him' and 'Shingled hells'. | |
Appellation contrôlée | Fay Lovsky | en | 1992 | Chanson pseudo-française: nostalgia for bad French wine. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
George is my horse | Fay Lovsky | en | 1992 | George says he don't like these cars / These stone trails, where's the grass? Fay was last seen playing singing saw with Robert Crumb. | |
Emigranten | Willem Wilmink / Harry Bannink | nl en | 1990 | One of Wilmink's so-called intermezzos. Veel emigranten over zee / nemen al hun gewoontes mee / naar de overkant. | |
Mooi was die tijd | Corry Konings | nl | 1990 | ||
I can get along without you | Chas and Dave | en | 1989 | Great ballad from the kings of London pub rock | |
Naar de speeltuin | Heleentje van Capelle met de Karekieten en het Orkest Zonder Naam | nl | 1987 | ||
Kleine jodeljongen | Manke Nelis | nl | 1987 | ||
Fungus the Bogeyman | The Singing Organ-Grinder | en | 1985 | Inspired in some fashion by Raymond Briggs' graphic novel. | |
Super Mario Sheep | 1985 | Mashup created for an agricultural theatre event. | |||
Theme from Terminator | 1984 | Next project: Arnie-style organ. | |||
Ik verscheurde je foto | Koos Alberts | nl | 1984 | One of the greatest laments in the Dutch repertoire: I tore up your photo / Your letters I've burnt / In my heart I'm weeping / Though I pretend I weren't. | |
Estoy tocando fondo | Viudas e hijas de Roque Enroll | es | 1984 | Where the fondo may be the International Monetary Fund. | |
Himno de la Comunidad de Madrid | Agustín García Calvo | es | 1983 | Muy bueno por irónico: Sólo por ser algo, ¡soy madrileño! (Cfr. Cánovas: Son españoles... los que no pueden ser otra cosa) Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Fluffy | Gloria Balsam / Richard van Dorn / Davey Sayles | en | 1980 | Her doggie gets lost in the woods, and Gloria is very sad: 'Here, Fluffy, where are you?' Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Song for the British Working Class | Cornelius Cardew | en | 1979 | Albanian scansion for one of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist)'s more curious attempts to connect with normal people: Persisting in the face of every difficulty / In 1979 was formed our new party, a glorious victory. / Rallying to this flag is the only way, workers / To usher in, a bright new day of / Socialism in Britain. | |
Rainbow connection | Paul Williams / Kenneth Ascher | 1979 | As sung by Kermit the Frog in The Muppet Movie. With the pop sonnet by Erik Didriksen. | ||
You're wondering now | The Specials | en | 1979 | Break/termination marker. | |
A Martian sends a postcard home | Craig Raine | en | 1979 | Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings / and some are treasured for their markings - / they cause the eyes to melt / or the body to shriek without pain. | |
Sonho meu | Maria Bethânia / Gal Costa | pt | 1978 | Hit from Caetano Veloso's little sister. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Hit me with your rhythm stick | Ian Dury | en | 1978 | Tropical stylee. | |
You're the reason our kids are ugly | Lorretta Lynn, Conway Twitty | en | 1978 | ||
Smurf song | Pierre Kartner | nl | 1977 | ||
Aan de Costa del Sol (tingelingeling) | Trad. German-Italian / Johnny Hoes / Zangeres Zonder Naam | nl | 1975? | Waltz, apparently stolen from Trentino in the Tyrol - see the links. | |
Synonyms / Shumba | Thomas Mapfumo / The Singing Organ-Grinder | en | 1975 | Flagrant misuse of chiShona material by Zimbabwe's most interesting singer. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Brave Sir Robin | Monty Python | en | 1975 | Packing it in and packing it up / And sneaking away and buggering off / And chickening out and pissing off home / Yes, bravely he is throwing in the sponge. See also John Grubb, St. George for England. | |
In 't kleine café aan de haven | Pierre Kartner | nl | 1975 | ||
Inland waterway | John Betjeman / Ben Sawyer | en | 1974 | On the opening of the Upper Avon Navigation by the Queen Mum in 1974, part of the irresistible rise of the Inland Waterways Association: The lock you have reopened will set free / The heart of England to the open sea. | |
The socialist ABC | Alex Glasgow | en | 1973 | Now Daddy was a lodge chairman / In the coalfields of the Tyne / And his ABC was different / From the Enid Blyton kind. | |
An hini a garan | Trad. vannetais / Alan Stivell | br | 1973 | Her man has emigrated in search of work. | |
Ik ben Gerrit | Gerrit Dekzeil | nl | 1973 | My name is Gerrit and I steal like the ravens, / I am a rogue in the eyes of the goody-goodies. / But what can you do if you have nothing / In this world where everything's a con. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Jan Klaassen de trompetter | Lennaert Nijgh / Boudewijn de Groot / Rob de Nijs | nl | 1973 | The life and loves of Jan Claesen, a legendary Dutch figure, supposedly trumpeter in the army of Frederick Henry of Orange-Nassau, afterwards a type of Punch figure. | |
Veerpont / The Floating Bridge | Drs. P (Heinz Polzer) / The Singing Organ-Grinder | nl en | 1973 | The proprietor of a floating bridge over the River Lea at the Anchor & Hope philosophises, in my translation, regarding the good times and the bad: We stand here on the banks of a river swift and hot / The other shore is over there and this one here is not. | |
Willow's Song, aka The Wicker Man Song | Paul Giovanni / Rachel Verney | en | 1973 | ||
Peppi en Kokki intro | nl | 1972 | Dutch 70s absurdist children's show. Video, possibly from another time or person: | ||
Brucia la terra | Giuseppe Rinaldi / Nino Rota | it | 1972 | Swing version of theme from The Godfather / Il Padrino. | |
Magic egg | Barrow Poets | en | 1972 | Found on a 60s LP. The video is of another piece. Gerard Benson was one of the figures behind London's Poems on the Underground. Long, long ago before time had begun, the moon lost a pebble and away through space it spun, in the world far below only water could be seen, it sank down to the bottom and it lay there like a dream. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Manuela | Jacques Herb | nl | 1971 | ||
King of Rome | Dave Sudbury / June Tabor / The Unthanks | en | 1970s? | A pigeon race from Rome to England in 1913: On the day o' the big race a storm blew in / A thousand birds were swept away and never seen again. | |
Postman Pat / Pat el Cartero / Postmann Pat | Bryan Daly / Ken Barrie | no en | 1970 | In English or Norwegian. Virtual excerpt: Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Theme from the Magic Roundabout | Alain Legrand | 1970 | The bits featuring a barrel organ were more popular in Germany. Video, possibly from another time or person: | ||
Las tetas de María Guevara | Perucho Aguirre / Quinto Criollo | es | 1970 | Absurd song about an absurd pair of Caribbean peaks: navigational and erotic aids. | |
Het dorp / La montagne | Wim Sonneveld / Jean Ferrat | nl fr | 1970 | Another Dutch plundering of French repertoire: nostalgia available in both languages. | |
Run, Samson, run | The Click Kids | en | 1970 | Run, Samson, run, Delilah's gonna get you, / Run, Samson, run she's gonna cut your hair, / Run, Samson, run, you're gonna lose your power / You're gonna go to prison and lie down dead. | |
I don't eat animals and they don't eat me | Melanie Safka | en | 1970 | Things were pretty bad in the 70s: I don't eat white flour, white sugar makes you rot, / Oh, white could be beautiful but mostly it's not. | |
Huilen is voor jou te laat | Corry en de Rekels | nl | 1970 | ||
Plegaria para el senador Robert F Kennedy después de su asesinato | Hermanitos García | es | 1970 | ||
Junk | Paul McCartney | en | 1970 | ||
Ernie (the fastest milkman in the West) | Benny Hill | en | 1970 | ||
Love me tender | Elvis Presley | en | 1970 | ||
Flocon, papillon (Fabulettes) | Anne Sylvestre | fr | 1969 | En souvenir de notre grand ami, Christophe Quinton: Il neigera, il neigera / puis un jour le printemps viendra / Et sur les branches il neigera / des fleurs de pommes et du lilas. Virtual excerpt: | |
De Soldatenmoeder / The Soldiers' Mother | Zangeres Zonder Naam / Singing Organ-Grinder | nl en | 1969 | A Dutch neo-broadside ballad about the Vietnam War in my translation. Probably unintentionally, its theme is similar to Brecht's Mother Courage, but the treatment is more startling and profound. | |
River man | Nick Drake | en | 1969 | ||
Lily the pink | en | 1968 | See also the Ballad of Lydia Pinkham | ||
De glimlach van een kind (Toi tu voudrais) | Gerrit den Braber / Willy Alberti / Jean Kluger / Daniel Vangarde | nl | 1968 | ||
Good morning, how are you?' 'Shut up!' | Ivor Cutler | en | 1967 | Don't give me the small talk, give me the big talk. Cutler's songs are both for and about children. Virtual excerpt: | |
I'm happy | Ivor Cutler | en | 1967 | And I'll punch the man who says I'm not. A boxing classic to be. | |
Darling, will you marry me twice? | Ivor Cutler | en | 1967 | Cartesian doctrine in micro format. | |
I'm going in a field | Ivor Cutler | en | 1967 | Green grass, yellow flowers / My lover’s eyes are blue. | |
The bare necessities (The Jungle Book) | Terry Gilkyson | en | 1967 | ||
I wanna be like you (The Jungle Book) | Sherman Brothers / Louis Prima | en | 1967 | ||
Theme from Star Trek | Alexander Courage / Gene Roddenberry | 1966 | With scam-meister Gene Roddenberry's lyrics. | ||
Goldilocks and the three bears | Afferbeck Lauder | en | 1965 | In English, but also in Australian or Strine: Girldie Larks, Girldie Larks, where have you been? / I beat up London and vented my spleen, / And then I cummome menai harrased the Behrs; / I yay tarp their porridge and bro karp their chairs. / I savaged the beds and I tordan the fences. / And frightened a little mouse out of its senses. | |
One-note samba (demo version) | en | 1965 | Used in how-the-organ-works talks. | ||
Colonel Bogey | Kenneth Alford / Tijuana Brass | 1965 | |||
The slow train | Flanders & Swann | en | 1964 | A nostalgic look at the Beeching cuts. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Amsterdam huilt / Amsterdam weeps | Kees Manders / Zwarte Riek / Singing Organ-Grinder | en nl | 1964 | Extraordinary Dutch khazan-style lament about the genocide of Amsterdam's Jewry. Evocative not only of the pre-nationalist-socialist ghetto, but also of a world still subconsciously recalled by Dutch wedding and light musicians. My translation. | |
Los tres cochinitos | Cri-Cri / Francisco Gabilondo Soler | es | 1963? | Three little piggies are snoring in bed, and they're all dreaming about something different. | |
Doctor Kitch | Lord Kitchener | en | 1963 | A girl asks a doctor for an injection, but his needle's very big and she moves a lot, and the penicillin ends up in the wrong hole. | |
Hungarian Goulash No. 5 | Allan Sherman / Johannes Brahms | en | 1963 | Do you like Hungarian food / They have a goulash which is very good. (Pumpernickel is also associated with Westphalia.) | |
Ta Katie t'a quitté | Boby Lapointe | fr | 1962 | Pour une sonnerie, c'est une belle çonnerie! Legendary tonguetwister. Virtual excerpt: Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
James Bond theme | John Barry | 1962 | Quasi-ska version. Virtual excerpt: | ||
Rhythm of the rain / Ritme van de regen | The Cascades / Rob de Nijs | nl en | 1962 | Also on the soundtrack of Quadrophenia. | |
Little boxes ('Ticky tacky') | Malvina Reynolds | en | 1962 | We all look just the same. | |
Thème des vacances (Jules et Jim) | Georges Delerue | fr | 1962 | ||
De blinde soldaat / The blind soldier | Zangeres Zonder Naam | nl | 1961 | A soldier back from the front can't see his new-born son because he has lost his sight. | |
La patita | Cri-Cri / Francisco Gabilondo Soler | es | 1960? | What will Mother Duck give her ducklings to eat now dad refuses to work and the market is so expensive? Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Ratón vaquero | Cri-Cri / Francisco Gabilondo Soler | es | 1960? | Cowboy mouse | |
Perrito | Cri-Cri / Francisco Gabilondo Soler | es | 1960? | Doggie | |
Di por qué, dime abuelita | Cri-Cri / Francisco Gabilondo Soler | es | 1960? | Children's song which treads a fine line with grandma: Tell me why you're teeth are gone / And your hair's like the foam of the sea. | |
Canción de las vocales | Cri-Cri / Francisco Gabilondo Soler | es | 1960? | Vowel education from Cri-Cri, an incredibly popular children's series. | |
Crazy | Patsy Cline | en | 1960 | För Sveriges största gitarrist, Tom Coskeran. Done as a waltz | |
As long as he needs me | Lionel Bart | en | 1960 | Great torch song from Oliver. | |
Brazil / Aquarela do Brasil | Ary Barroso / Jimmy Dorsey / Xavier Cugat | en | 1960 | Samba: Where hearts were entertaining June / We stood beneath an amber moon | |
Strange | Patsy Cline | en | 1960 | Strange how you stopped loving me ... when she came along. | |
Ballad of Sigmund Freud | Chad Mitchell Trio | en | 1960 | Well, Doctor Freud, oh Doctor Freud / How we wish you had been differently employed / But the set of circumstances / Still enhances the finances / of the followers of Doctor Sigmund Freud | |
Puff, the magic dragon (Puff, el drac màgic) | Leonard Lipton / Peter Yarrow / Peter, Paul and Mary | en ca | 1960 | ||
Manhã de carnaval | Luiz Bonfá / Antônio Maria / Perry Como | en | 1959 | Bossa nova recounting significant parts of my life: I'll sing to the sun in the sky, / I'll sing till the sun rises high. | |
Cowboy Billy | Jan en Jules | nl | 1959 | Part of the European craze for local cowboys. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
On the ning nang nong | Spike Milligan | en | 1959 | Where the cows go Bong! | |
Zuiderzeeballade | Willy van Hemert / Joop de Leur / Oetze Verschoor / Sylvain Poons | nl | 1959 | ||
What a difference a day makes | Dinah Washington | en | 1959 | ||
Poisoning pigeons in the park | Tom Lehrer | en | 1959 | ||
Inflation calypso | ET Mensah | en | 1958? | Pidgin English highlife from post-independence Ghana, now with extra verse about deflation. Useful for introducing basic economics to small beings. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Elube (Mi Churri, gran perrito/My doggie, big little doggie) | Ndirande Pitch Crooners / The Singing Organ-Grinder | en | 1958 | The original song in Nyanja (Malawi) is about a girl, but it scans like a dog biting its tail, and so my English version is a homage to all the little doggies out there. | |
The super supper march | Dr. Seuss / Dean Elliott | en | 1957 / 1971 | Hungry, hungry, I am hungry / Table, table, here I come. Virtual excerpt: | |
Concerto for Barrel Organ and Orchestra / Brass Band / Wind Band / Piano etc | Bernie Green | 1957 | The organ-grinder has at last got a serious classical gig but can't throw off the habits of a lifetime. With bleeding chunks of Tchaikovsky (1st Piano Concerto), Rachmaninov (2nd Piano Concerto), Greig (Piano Concerto), Fučik (Entry of the Gladiators) and Waldteufel (Les Patineurs). Virtual excerpt: | ||
The hippopotamus song | Flanders & Swann | en | 1957 | Mud, mud, glorious mud, / Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood. | |
Till there was you | Meredith Willson / Beatles / Peggy Lee | en | 1957 | Sophie Tucker never sang it. | |
De crocus en de hyacint | Dorus / Tom Manders | nl | 1957 | ||
Tulpen uit Amsterdam / Tulips from Amsterdam | Ralf Arnie / Van Aleda / Max Bygraves | nl en | 1956 | Typically Dutch: a German waltz about Turkish flowers. Virtual excerpt: | |
The country's in the very best of hands | Gene De Paul / Johnny Mercer / Al Capp | en | 1956 | From the 1956 Broadway show, Li'l Abner: The Treasury says the national debt is climbing to the sky / And govermnent expenditures have never been so high. / It makes a feller get a gleam of pride within his eye, / To see how our economy expands, / The country’s in the very best of hands… | |
Tea samba | ET Mensah | en | 1956 | Ghanaian tea ad from the 50s. | |
Sunday Mirror | ET Mensah | en | 1956 | Highlife ad for a 1950s Ghanaian newspaper. | |
The abominable snowman | Ogden Nash | en | 1956 | I've never seen an abominable snowman, / I'm hoping not to see one, / I'm also hoping, if I do, / That it will be a wee one. | |
Nellie the elephant | Ralph Butler / Peter Hart | en | 1956 | Donald has asked me to revive this classic: Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk / And said goodbye to the circus / Off she went with a trumpety-trump / Trump, trump, trump. | |
Che sarà, sarà / Qué será, será / Whatever will be, will be | Doris Day / José Feliciano / Pink Martini / The Jukebox Sisters / Dave Cash | en es it nl yi | 1956 | Waltz | |
De postkoets / La diligence | Jos Cleber / Ferry van Delden / De Selvera's / The Cats | nl | 1956 | ||
Chella llà | Renato Carosone / Marino Marini | it | 1956 | ||
I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus OR I saw mommy kissing Yog-Sothoth | H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society | en | 1955 OR 2011 | Innocent entertainment from when all families were normal OR Christmas fantasy about the Myths of Cthulhu. | |
A woman in love | Frank Loesser | 1955 | Modified transcription of a broken-down French organ-grinder's version of this Broadway standard. | ||
La Complainte de la Butte | Jean Renoir / Georges van Parys / Cora Vaucaire / Zaz / Rufus Wainwright | fr en | 1955 | ||
El baile de los pajaritos / The birdie song / De vogeltjesdans | El payo Juan Manuel / Werner Thomas / Johnny Hoes | es nl en | 1955 | ||
When you are old and grey | Tom Lehrer | en | 1953 | On request only. Virtual excerpt: | |
Vecchia pianola | Katyna Ranieri | it | 1953 | An old pianola recalls the good times: Vecchia pianola d'un tempo, / d'un tempo passato, / tu mi ricordi il bel tempo, / il bel tempo che fu. | |
April in Portugal | Pérez Prado Orchestra | 1953 | Cha-cha, with grunting. | ||
I hold your hand in mine, dear | Tom Lehrer | en | 1953 | I press it to my lips / I take a healthy bite / From your dainty fingertips. | |
I know an old lady who swallowed a fly | Burl Ives | en | 1953 | I think she'll die. | |
The Irish ballad | Tom Lehrer | en | 1953 | Parody that says it all: About a maid I'll sing a song, / Sing rickety-tickety-tin, / About a maid I'll sing a song / Who didn't have her family long. / Not only did she do them wrong, / She did ev'ryone of them in, them in, / She did ev'ryone of them in. | |
How much is that doggie in the window | Bob Merrill / Patti Page | en | 1953 | The one with the waggly tail. Lita Roza's version was Maggie Thatcher's favourite song. | |
The old dope pedlar | Tom Lehrer | en | 1953 | When happiness is a powder, from the well-known Harvard mathematician. | |
Frosty the defrosted snowman | Lonzo and Oscar | en | 1953 | ||
I'm no communist | Carson Robison / Scotty Wiseman | en | 1952 | Cold War country alla Ronald Reagan: I'm no communist, I'll tell you that right now / I believe a man should own his own house and car and cow / I like this private ownership, I wanna be left alone / Let the government run its business, and let me run my own. | |
L'âme des poètes | Charles Trenet | fr | 1951 | Homage (with barrel organ allusions) to the poet and painter Max Jacob, who died en route to Auschwitz: Long after the poets have disappeared their songs still walk the streets. | |
Mexico | Zangeres Zonder Naam / Luis Mariano | nl fr | 1951 | Paso doble in de stijl van de film Le chanteur de Mexico | |
Marijuana, the devil's flower | Mr. Sunshine and his Guitar Pickers | en | 1951 | ||
Bananas | Machito | en nl ca | 1950 | The mambo king indulges in a bit of self-parody. Available in English, Catalan or Dutch. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Time to go home (Andy Pandy) | Maria Bird | en | 1950 | We didn't have a telly, but for some reason it's still familiar. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Don't laugh at me, cause I'm a fool | Norman Wisdom | en | 1950 | A hit by a minor British star dearly loved by Albanians during the dictatorship. | |
Joe Louis was a fighting man | The Dixieaires | en | 1950 | Another boxing number. | |
South of the border | Gene Autry / Patsy Cline | en | 1950 | Bolero | |
Masanga | Jean Bosco Mwenda | 1950 | Congolese finger-picking classic. | ||
Victory test match | Lord Beginner | en | 1950 | Cricket, lovely cricket, at Lord's where I saw it | |
Santa Bárbara Bendita | es | 1950 | Emblematic mining accident at the Pozo María Luisa, Asturias in 1949. | ||
Abruzzo forte e gentile | Tommaso Coccione | it | 1950 | Instrumental from a popular 30s Italian musician. | |
Yo tengo un moco | Trad. / Wagner / Mozart / Pierre Degeyter / traductor comunista desconocido | es | 1950 | Mashup with kazoo of a Spanish children's song about eating your bogies, The Mastersingers of Nuremburg, Eine kleine Nachtmusik and the Internationale ('Arise ye starvelings from your slumbers'). | |
Take you meat out me rice | Lord Kitchener | en | 1950 | ||
Smoke, smoke that cigarette | en | 1950 | |||
Aan de Amsterdamse grachten | Pieter Goemans / Johnny Kraaijkamp / Wim Sonneveld | nl | 1949 | Nostalgic waltz. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Unemployment Compensation Blues | Les Pine / Barbara Dane / George Browne | en | 1949 | And when I'm through with my weekly routine, / I spend my money on Benzedrine. / I've got those 'By the time I get my check, / I become a nervous wreck' blues. | |
Enjoy yourself (it's later than you think) | Guy Lombardo / Prince Buster / Specials | en | 1949 | Because when you kiss a dollar bill, it doesn't kiss you back. | |
Capri-Fischer / Fishermen of Capri (Bella, bella Marie) | Rudi Schuricke / Gerhard Winkler / Ralph Maria Siegel | de en | 1949 | Wenn bei Capri die rote Sonne im Meer versinkt: Lola sings this tango in Fassbinder's Wirtschaftswunderbar, but the version by Gracie Fields is also rather special. | |
London is the place for me | Lord Kitchener | en | 1948 | Sung by Lord Kitchener as he came off the Windrush at Tilbury Docks on June 21, 1948 Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
The blue Danube | Spike Jones | en | 1945 | It's green. | |
Diep in m'n hart | Jaap Valkhoff / Ernst van ’t Hoff / Willeke Alberti | nl | 1944 | Slow foxtrot | |
Karussell (Wir reiten auf hölzernen Pferden) / Carousel (We ride on wooden horses) | Leo Straus / Martin Roman | de en | 1944 | Translation of a song from the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. When you get off, will you be able to stand up? Quotes the Wiener Praterleben waltz by fellow-inmate of Death's waiting-room, Siegfried Translateur. | |
Stalin wasn't stallin' | Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet | en | 1943 | An American gospel quartet lauds Uncle Joe's revenge on his old friend Hitler. | |
Hindernisrennen / Steeple Chase / Chasse á Coure | The Ramblers | 1943 | Splendid little novelty number, originally featuring the trumpet section. | ||
Als op Capri de rozentuinen bloeien | Han Dunk / The Ramblers / Eddy Christiani | nl | 1942 | Foxtrot | |
Rose, Rose, I love you / Shanghai Rose / May Kway / 玫瑰玫瑰我愛你 | Chen Gexin / Yao Lee / Wilfrid Thomas / Frankie Laine | en | 1940 | Mandarin pop classic. Allegedly the only major popular music chart hit in the United States written by a Chinese composer. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth | Spike Jones | en | 1940 | A little girl's terrible lisp is caused by her insufficient dentition. Works well at primary schools and dental conferences. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Begin the beguine | Cole Porter / Les Paul | en | 1940 | Beguine | |
Perfidia | en | 1940 | Bolero | ||
Jolly Banker | Woody Guthrie / Wilco | en | 1940 | My name is Tom Cranker and I'm a jolly banker, / I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I. / I safeguard the farmers and widows and orphans, / Singin' I'm a jolly banker, jolly banker am I. | |
My girl's pussy | Robert Crumb & his Cheap Suit Serenaders | en | 1940 | Often it goes out at night, returns at break of dawn / No matter what the weather's like it's always nice and warm. | |
Hawaii | Mary J. Muckle / Anon / The Singing Organ-Grinder | en | 1940 | There are three words that sweetly blend, / That on the heart are graven; / A precious soothing balm they lend– / They’re Mother, Home and Hawaii! | |
In the big rock candy mountains | Harry Kirby McClintock | en | 1940 | Utopia vagorum. | |
Complainte pour l'orgue de la nouvelle barbarie | Louis Aragon | fr | 1940 | Wartime poem from after his conversion to Marxism: Ceux qu'arrêtèrent les barrages. / Sont revenus en plein midi. / Morts de fatigue et fous de rage. | |
Ketelbinkie | Anton Beuving / Jan Vogel | nl | 1940 | When we from Rotterdam departed / In the Edam, an ancient hulk. Tragedy of a Dutch (colonial) ship's boy who misses his mum but doesn't know how to tell her. Illegitimate offspring of Thackeray's maritime parody? | |
That's all folks | Looney Toons | 1940 | |||
It's raining, it's pouring | Trad. | en | 1939? | ||
You are my sunshine | Jimmie Davis / Charles Mitchell / Pine Ridge Boys | en | 1939 | Foxtrot | |
Lydia, the Tattooed Lady | Yip Harburg / Harold Arlen / Groucho Marx / The Muppets | en | 1939 | From At the Circus. Appears as Todd's new ringtone in Breaking Bad. | |
The Workman's Friend | Flann O'Brien (Brian O'Nolan) / The Singing Organ-Grinder | en | 1939 | Porter meets the Plain People, from At Swim-Two-Birds | |
Valzer dell'organino | Bruno Cherubini / C.A. Bixio | it | 1938 | More organ-grinder nostalgia. | |
With her head tucked underneath her arm | Rudy Vallee | en | 1937 | Comic Anne Boleyn ghost song | |
Leaning on a lamp-post | George Formby | en | 1937 | Surprisingly well-known on 21st century London streets. | |
J'attendrai / Tornerai | Trio Lescano / Carlo Buti / Rina Ketty / Jean Sablon / Tino Rossi | fr it | 1937 | I'll return because my heart is yours. Even better than the Tornerai Monteverdi puts into Poppea's mouth. | |
Ik hou van Holland | Willy Schootemeijer / Joseph Schmidt / Heintje | nl | 1937 | ||
When I'm cleaning windows | George Formby | en | 1936 | From the film, Keep Your Seats, Please | |
Cool water | Bob Nolan / Hank Williams / Sons of the Pioneers | en | 1936 | Gloss on Psalms 42:1: I and my mule, Dan, are crossing the desert when we see a mirage: Can you see that big green tree / Where the water's running free / And it's waiting there for you and me? Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
The Spring (Arrangements) Bill | A.P. Herbert / The Singing Organ-Grinder | en | 1936 | Universal basic income, old style: If any person feels he must get out of London now or bust, because the Spring is in his bones, but he must work for Mr. Jones, it shall be lawful for the same to give the Treasury his name, and say 'Upon sufficient grounds I want about a hundred pounds': and there shall not be any fuss concerning sums expended thus. | |
The tale of Custard the dragon | Ogden Nash | en | 1936 | Very childish: the dragon was a coward, and she called him Custard | |
Pennies from heaven | Arthur Johnston / Johnny Burke / Bing Crosby | en | 1936 | You'll find your fortune falling all over the town / Be sure that your umbrella is upside down. | |
Wunderbar | Zarah Leander | en | 1935? | Popularised in Britain as 'Wonderbra' | |
Утомлённое солнце (Weary sun)/To ostatnia niedziela (This is the last Sunday) | Jerzy Petersburski / Zenon Friedwald / Iosif Alvek / Pavel Mikhailov | ru | 1935 | Polish tango about failed love, also done in a Russian, Black Sea-ish version. Featured in Yuriy Norshteyn's stunning Tale of Tales. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Shave 'em dry | Lucille Bogan | en | 1935 | I've got nipples on my titties big as the end of my thumb / I got something tween my legs 'd make a dead man come. | |
To The Tabulating Machine Division (IBM Songbook) | IBM employees | en | 1935 | Punch a card for every sale that's made. / There's a record which will never fade. / Sort them out by man and state - / Speedily we tabulate. Etc. etc. | |
Old Dan Tucker | Cackle Sisters | en | 1935 | Song about a simple man, with cackle chorus. Why? Because that's how the sisters sang. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Rosetta | George Handy / Bob Wills | en | 1935 | Western swing | |
Nobody loves a fairy when she's 40 | Arthur Le Clerq / Tessie O'Shea | en | 1935 | ||
Your feet's too big | Ada Benson / Fred Fisher / The Ink Spots | en | 1935 | ||
Ugly woman | Roaring Lion / Sir Lancelot / Jimmy Soul | en | 1934 | If you want to be happy and live a king's life, never make a pretty woman your wife! | |
Youkali | Kurt Weill | fr | 1934 | Possibly the best tango ever. | |
Isle of Capri / C'est à Capri | Will Grosz / Jimmy Kennedy / Lew Stone | en nl fr | 1934 | Sometimes with lyrics featuring the River Lea / Lee in East London: Twas on the banks of the Lea that I met her / Under the shade of an old apple tree / Now I can still hear the sirens around me / As I lie bleeding in A and E. | |
Complainte de Fantômas | Robert Desnos / Kurt Weill | fr | 1933 | Allongeant son ombre immense / Sur le Monde et sur Paris / Quel est ce spectre aux yeux gris / Qui surgit dans le silence? / Fantômas, serait-ce toi / Qui te dresse sur les toits? | |
Ursonate / Sonate in Urlauten | Kurt Schwitters | 1932 | Schwitters wanted to destroy conventional forms. This mashup with JS Bach and reggaetón is a revenge of the nerds. | ||
Zuiderzee | Louis Davids | nl | 1932 | The consequences of the construction of the Afsluitdijk dam, which turned the Zuyder Zee from a North Sea inlet into a fresh-water lake. | |
Love is the sweetest thing | Al Bowlly / Ray Noble | en | 1932 | ||
Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun | Noël Coward | en | 1931 | A masterpiece of rhythm and rhyme dealing with the importance of adjusting one's dress to circumstances: The toughest Burmese bandit can never understand it. / In Rangoon the heat of noon is just what the natives shun. / They put their scotch or rye down, and lie down. | |
Oh zwarte zigeuner / Oh, play to me gypsy (Cikánka) | Harry de Groot / Karel Vacek / Melody Boys / Willy Derby / Willy Alberti / Johnny Jordaan / Gracie Fields | nl en | 1931 | Slow foxtrot. | |
My brother makes the noises for the talkies | Albert Whelan / Jack Payne / Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band | en | 1931 | ||
De kikkertjes | Anon | nl | 1930? | Dutch frogs are a sight for sore eyes. | |
Doris the goddess of wind | Douglas Byng | en | 1930? | From his royal campness. Used in Alan Bennett's 2010 play The Habit of Art. | |
Zeg, Roodkapje, waar ga je heen? | Trad. | nl | 1930? | Red Riding Hood, in Dutch, now with a Spanish version. | |
Seven skeletons found in the yard | Lord Executor aka Felix Garcia (ca.1878-1952) | en | 1930 | From a calypso genius and the king of extempo: Hideous discoveries and monstrous crime / Always happen at the Christmas time. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Chinatown, my Chinatown | Jean Schwartz | en | 1930 | Jackie Chan edition. Virtual excerpt: | |
Mijn kleine groene cactus | Comedian Harmonists / Gerrit Bellers | nl de | 1930 | Dutch text by Gerrit Bellers: Bloemen en planten, zoals chrysanten, / Of rozen, tulpen en narcissen, / Willen de mensen, zo zijn hun wensen, / Ik hoef ze niet, ik kan ze missen. | |
Hengeler weend | Comedian Harmonists / Fred van de Ven | nl | 1930 | Low Saxon lyrics by Hengelo's municipal poet Fred van de Ven. | |
La gallina Papanatas | Monreal | es | 1930 | Mexican corrido about a prolific hen. | |
Rumba Tambah | Lecuona Cuban Boys | es | 1930 | Rumba | |
Organ grinder's swing | Jimmie Lunceford | en | 1930 | Slow foxtrot | |
Howling Cowman Blues | Wolfman | en | 1930 | The Organ-Grinder is better at cows than wolves. | |
It's only a paper moon | Harold Arlen | en | 1930 | ||
Canto Siboney | Ernesto Lecuona | en es | 1929 | Nino Rota's use of this in multiple guises dominates the soundtrack of Fellini's Amarcord. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Tarantella | Hilaire Belloc | en | 1929 | Belloc met Miranda Mackintosh at an inn in the Pyrenean hamlet of Canranc on the River Aragon in 1909. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Breakaway (Fox Movietone Follies of 1929) | Jack Hylton | en | 1929 | Foxtrot. It's got the snappiest syncopation. | |
A tale of the ticker | Frank Crumit | en | 1929 | I bought an elevator stock, / And thought that I'd done well. / Then the little bears all ran downstairs, / And rang the basement bell. | |
Cabaret boys | Douglas Byng / Lance Lister | en | 1928 | Camp classic from the Pansy Craze, with numerous double entendres | |
Berlin im Licht | Kurt Weill | de | 1928 | Foxtrot written for a festival of light staged by the Berliner Stadtwerke power company for the 1928 Berlin Festival. A companion piece to the Dutch electricity workers' union song, Op naar het licht. | |
Mackie Messer / Mack the Knife | Bertolt Brecht / Kurt Weill | de en | 1928 | Originally intended for performance with barrel organ. | |
I can't give you anything but love | McHugh-Fields | en | 1928 | ||
Barnacle Bill the sailor | Hoagy Carmichael / Bix Beiderbecke / Tex Morton / Betty Boop | en | 1927 | It's only me from over the sea / I'm all dressed up like a Christmas tree. With interludes featuring Benny Hill alla turca and the Beautiful Blue Danube (it's brown). Virtual excerpt: Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
El menú | Zöllner / Arregui Trecet | es | 1927 | La versión conocida es la de Los Xey (1953), pero canto la que se hizo para la Coral del Ensanche de Bilbao. | |
The lonesome road | Nathaniel Shilkret / Gene Austin / Joan Baez | en | 1927 | ||
Don't have any more, Mrs Moore | Lily Morris | en | 1926? | Too many double gins / Give the ladies double chins | |
En el jardin del Prado / La señorita Pepa / El patio de mi casa | Potpourri of Valencian play songs from the 1920s | es | 1925 | La señorita Pepa, que creida está / Se va a morir de tanto pensar. / Si piensa con su novio, su novio no la quiere / Por eso la pobre de pena se muere. | |
Lavender cowboy | Harold Hersey / Burl Ives | en | 1923 | A gayboy & western classic: He died with his six guns a-smoking / But only two hairs on his chest. | |
The barking policeman (parody of The laughing policeman) | George W. Johnson / Charles Penrose / Richard Littlejohn | en | 1922 | Tribute to PC Steve Hutton of Swindon, who devised an interesting way of mitigating police cuts. | |
It's a long way from amphioxus | Philip H. Pope | en | 1921 | Evolution, sung to Tipperary: Well, it's goodbye to fins and gill slits, and it's welcome lungs and hair! / It's a long, long way from Amphioxus, but we all came from there. | |
Sheik of Araby | Smith-Wheeler-Snyder / Mr. Goon-Bones / Ted Baxter | en | 1921 | I'm the Sheikh of Araby, this sand belongs to me. Foxtrot | |
Jingle bells / Campanelle, campanelle, belle belle | en it | 1920 | Anglo-Italian version based on Lou Monte. Virtual excerpt: | ||
El dilluns jo no treballo | Valenciano | ca | 1920 | Song in Valencian lists the days of the week on which I don't work. Their number is lucky. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
On the sunny side of the street | en | 1920 | Foxtrot | ||
Five foot two, eyes of blue | Henderson | en | 1920 | Foxtrot | |
Panpipe call used by an itinerant French pot-mender and pig-gelder in Galicia | Trad. | es fr | 1920 | With humorous quotes from Spanish Golden Age theatre (inc Quevedo and Calderón), sketching the accent, appearance and behaviour of French castrators and pot menders in the 16th/17th centuries. (Ambulant moped-chain-powered knife-grinders in Barcelona and other Mediterranean cities still use panpipes as advertising medium, but with less sophistication.) | |
Regionalismo | Francisco Vighi / The Singing Organ-Grinder | es | 1920 | ||
El nuevo Ford | Cubano | es | 1920 | ||
I'm living alone and I like it | Sophie Tucker | en | 1920 | ||
Silent night | Trad. | en | 1920 | See also Carloons. | |
Don Pasquito at the seaside (Façade) | Edith Sitwell / William Walton | en | 1920 | ||
My old man said follow the van | Marie Lloyd / Lily Morris | en | 1919 | For Josep Viladot, great Londoner, exiled in Gracia, Barcelona. | |
K-K-K-Katy | Geoffrey O'Hara | en | 1918 | ||
Second Sonata, The Airplane, fragmento | George Antheil | 1916 | Everything's back to front: The Singing Organ-Grinder is the plane. | ||
Had je me maar | Louis Davids | nl | 1916 | Song that provided the nickname for the Dutch anarchist politician, Cornelis de Gelder. | |
Toccata No. 2 | George Antheil | 1916 | |||
My old tunes | Edward Elgar | en | 1915 | From Elgar's incidental music for The Starlight Express, a children's play by Violet Pearn based on the imaginative novel A Prisoner in Fairyland by Algernon Blackwood: My old tunes are rather broken / And they come from far away, / Bring just a little token / Of a long-forgotten day. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Mashup: Petrushka + My old man's a dustman | Igor Stravinsky / Lonnie Donegan | en | 1915 | Portrays on the organ the orchestral imitation by Stravinsky of a barrel organ and a musical box. The video shows the Bolshoi dancing my arrangement. Ends with one of my favourite children's songs. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Ballad of Lydia Pinkham | en | 1914? | |||
Sports et divertissements | Erik Satie | en | 1914 | A selection, in English. | |
La violetera | José Padilla | es | 1914 | Early Raquel Meller hit: Como aves precursoras de primavera / En Madrid aparecen la violeteras / Que pregonando parecen golondrinas / Que van piando, que van piando. | |
Le pont Mirabeau | Guillaume Apollinaire / Léo Ferré | fr en | 1912 | ||
Woad aka National Anthem of the Ancient Britons | William Hope-Jones | en | 1910 | To Men of Harlech: Saxon, you can waste your stitches / Building beds for bugs in britches: / We have woad to clothe us, which is / Not a nest for fleas. | |
Crits del carrer | Joan Amades Cançoner / English C17th canon | ca | 1910 | Audience participation required in this canon consisting of the cries (in Catalan) of the vendors of potatoes, hats and chocolate. As good in its way as Clément Janequin, Voulez ouyr les cris de Paris | |
Fleur de blé noir | Théodore Botrel / Toscani | fr | 1910 | Dans une métairie / Comme aide berger, / Pour mieux voir ma jolie / Je me suis gagé. | |
La nina encantada | Joan Amades (Cançoner) | ca | 1910 | Jaime I of Aragón hunts his Hungarian queen, Violante, in the form of a stag. Alludes to the foundational myth of the Danubian country. Anti-folky version. | |
England and America. I. On a Rhine Steamer | James Kenneth Stephen | en | 1909 | In short it's due to thee, / Thou kind of Western star, / That we have come to be / Precisely what we are. / But every now and then, / It cannot be denied, / You breed a kind of men / Who are not dignified | |
The teddy bear's picnic | John Bratton | en | 1907 | Don't go into the woods. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Holland ze zeggen | Simon Abramsz | nl | 1906 | ||
Frankie and Johnny were lovers | Frank Crumit / Hughie Cannon | en | 1904 | She done him wrong. | |
The clean song | Trad. | en | 1900s? | There once was a farmer who sat on a rick / A ranting and raving and waving his / Fist at some people who sat on his walls etc. etc. | |
She moved through the fair | Trad. / Alan Stivell | en | 1900s | One of the most beautiful songs around. Stivell's version famously floated the melody over the accompaniment. | |
Incy wincy spider | Trad. | en | 1900? | ||
Valencia | José Padilla | es | 1900 | Based on a piano roll scan. It's as if the arranger located Valencia on the east coast of Asia instead of that of Spain. / Basado en un escaneo de rollo de pianola. Parece que el arreglista ubicó Valencia en la costa levantina de Asia en vez de España. | |
La maquinista: polka corejada | Josep Anselm Clavé | ca | 1900 | Clavé trolls the anarchists: Dali sens descans, / es lo pa de la familia, / la suor de nostre afany. | |
O sole mio | Giovanni Capurro / Eduardo di Capua | it en nl | 1898 | ||
The Organ-Grinder's Serenade | Charles K. Harris | en | 1897 | He plays for a small girl in life and death: She's going to die. Please sir, don't cry. / Play her your serenade. | |
El chincatapunchincógrafo, etcétera | Antonio Rodríguez Martínez / Coro “Los Abanicos” | es | 1897 | Song about the marvels of electricity: En la época presente / no hay nada tan floreciente / como la electricidad... Hasta yo creo que un aparato de inventará / para fabricar chiquillos / por medio de la electricidad. | |
Happy birthday to you | en es ca | 1893 | I believe I can sing this now without being sued by copyright lawyers. Video, possibly from another time or person: | ||
Paternal. Tornant del Liceu en la nit del 7 de novembre de 1893 | Joan Maragall / The Singing Organ-Grinder | ca en | 1893 | I've done this a few times in Catalan and English but don't really know where to take it next. | |
Daisy bell | Harry Dacre | en | 1892 | Love on a tandem: But you'd look sweet / Upon the seat / Of a bicycle built for two. | |
Ya hemos visitado el Astillero | Los Moros Babucheros | es | 1891 | Working conditions in the factory at San Severiano, Cádiz could certainly be improved | |
Tha-ma-ra-boum-di-he / Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay | Mama Lou / Lottie Collins / Polaire | en fr | 1891 | ||
She'll be coming round the mountain | Trad. | en | 1890s | ||
Mamma mia, dammi 100 lire che in America voglio andar (Mum, give me 100 lire cos I want to go to America) | Anon | it | 1890ish? | About the great Italian emigration (late C19th - 1930s). Often used with children. Should 'America' now be replaced by 'London'? Cento lire io te le do, ma in America no no no! 100 lire I'll give you, but America, no no no! | |
Trenta giorni di nave a vapore (Thirty days in a steamship) | Anon | it | 1890? | About the great Italian emigration to the Americas beginning in the late C19th. | |
Whip and spur | Thomas S. Allen | 1890 | Morning, ladies. | ||
Two lovely black eyes / Twee ogen zo blauw | Charles Coborn / Willy Derby | en nl | 1886 | I learnt the Dutch lyrics first, but my Dad croons this Gladstonian warning by an East End comedian of the dangers of politics: Two lovely black eyes! / Oh! what a surprise! / Only for telling a man he was wrong, / Two lovely black eyes! | |
Zwei blaue Augen / Twee blauwe ogen / The two blue eyes of my sweetheart (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) | Gustav Mahler / Dutch translation: Jan Rot / English: T.E. Clark | de nl en | 1885 | Auf der Strasse stand ein Lindenbaum, Da hab' ich zum ersten Mal im Schlaf geruht! | |
Song of a blind Dutch organ-grinder in Iowa | Anon | nl | 1884 | ||
Away in a manger | Trad. | en | 1884 | ||
Epitaph for James Bosworth, who survived the Charge of the Light Brigade and died, aged 70, a stationmaster at Northam, Southampton | Ben Trovato | en | 1882 | His name was actually John Hacker/Hucker Bosworth and his service overseas in the 1850s doesn't seem to include Balaclava, but still a splendid thing: Though shot and shell flew around fast, / On Balaclava’s plain, / Unscathed he passed, to fall at last, / Run over by a train. | |
Th' owd knocker-iup | Henry Yates ('Tansy Tuft') | en | 1880s? | Lancashire dialect song by a cotton worker and amateur poet from Blackburn | |
Erev-Yonkiper nokhn halbn tog / 'Twas on the eve of Yom Kippur | Anon | en yi | 1880 | Yiddish ballad of forbidden love between a Goy & a Yid, Singing Organ-Grinder's translation: 'And now is come the time of love: / Say unto me but yea or nay.' / 'Lov'st thou me yea, or lov'st me nay, / We must now part, my parents say.' Whereupon he shoots her. | |
The knocker-up | Anon | 1880 | How did factory workers get out of bed before alarm clocks? | ||
Ride of the Valkyries | Wagner | 1880 | Kazoo special. | ||
The best of Tristan und Isolde | Wagner / The Singing Organ-Grinder | 1880 | Wagner was a big country and western fan. | ||
Softly awakes my heart | Saint-Saens | fr | 1880 | With Swanee whistle. | |
Blaze away march | Holzmann | 1880 | |||
Laetissimam famam / Wesołą nowinę | Ryszard Ganszyniec | la | 1878 | Latin version of Polish carol | |
In een blauwgeruite kiel (Draaiersjongen) | Anton de Rop | nl | 1875 | ||
Ballet of the unhatched chicks | Modest Mussorgsky | 1874 | Edited from an early piano roll. Virtual excerpt: | ||
The cummerbund: an Indian poem | Edward Lear | en | 1874 | ||
Manantiales de nitroglicerina (Nitroglycerin springs) | Anón | es | 1873 | Anarchist song: Nivelacion social!... Rota la valla / No más habrá, no más ladrones; / Partirémos sus bienes, sus millones / Cuando llegue su hora á la canalla. | |
The owl and the pussy-cat | Edward Lear / Mátyás Seiber | en | 1871 | Can be performed with a projection of the 1952 Halas and Batchelor cartoon short for which Seiber's music was written | |
Waar de blanke top der duinen | Pieter Louwerse / Richard Hol | nl | 1870 | ||
De zilvervloot | J.P. Heije / J.J. Viotta | nl | 1870 | ||
O little town of Bethlehem | Phillips Brooks / Henry Garman / Ralph Vaughan Williams | en | 1868 (lyrics) | See also Carloons. | |
The clown in the pantomime | William Lingard | en | 1868 | The last that I heard / Of her and her Joey the clown, / They played in the streets / And trudged it from town into town ... If you for amusements wish, / Take advice from me in time, / You should take your girl to a music-hall, / Not to a pantomime. | |
Noi de la mare | Trad. | ca | 1866 | Best-known Catalan Christmas carol | |
El amor bajo la luz eléctrica | Anon | es | 1865 | Don't rely on electric light if you're looking for cloth or a woman: No elijas mujer ni tela / Á la luz artificial, / Porque la una y la otra / Grandes chascos suelen dar. | |
The Organ Grinder | Arthur Lloyd / G.W. Hunt | en | 1865 | Some guy's girlfriend, a banjoist, eloped with one. References Babbage and Bass's campaign against organ grinders. | |
Cantata nacional | Josep Anselm Clavé | es | 1864 | In his collection, Flores de Estío, the Catalan master utters Hispanophile sentiments which many prefer to forget: ¡Gloria á ESPAÑA! dó en paz hoy florecen / Con las ciencias, la industria y las artes; / Dó el progreso derrumba baluartes / Que en talleres se ven transformar. | |
Daar kom die Alibama | Trad. | af | 1863 | Commemorates the visit of the legendary Birkenhead-built Confederate Navy commercial raider CSS Alabama to Cape Town during the American Civil War. Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Anem al treball | P.F. | ca | 1863 | Selection from a very long ode to work, from just before the First (Spanish) Republic: The world will always be / the same as it has been, / the poor will be with us always, / and the rich and artisans; / when God disposes, / you know what will happen: / as we find it / we will have to leave it, / let's not trust in fancies, / let's go to work. | |
We three kings of Orient are | John Henry Hopkins, Jr. | en | 1857 | See also Carloons. | |
Land of my fathers | Evan James / James James / Private Eye | en cy | 1856 | Phonetic transliteration of the Welsh: My hen laid a haddock on top of a tree / Glad farts and centurions throw dogs in the sea. | |
A orillas del Llobregat (Flores de Estío) | Josep Anselm Clavé | es | 1852 | Praise of the (industrialised) river south of Barcelona: A dar solaz al alma / Venid, niñas!... llegad! / Que aquí los céfiros / Agitan suaves / Las ramas fértiles / Donde las aves / Entonan cánticos, / Que alegran plácidos / Las ricas márgenes / Del LLOBREGAT! | |
Row, row, row your boat | Trad. | en | 1852 | ||
When Birmingham is a seaport town | Andy Casserley / Trad. | en | 1851? | Set to a lively tune. | |
Ostavaysya, brat Vanyukha / Stay well put, oh brother Johnny | Russian folk | ru en | 1850ish | In the repertoire of Grigorovich's Petersburg Organ-Grinders | |
Dance to your daddy (when the boat comes in) | Trad. | en | 1850? | Games and dances Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
k Zag twee beren | nl | 1850? | |||
Trobo divertit sens pecar de la merda y del cagar | Anon (Lérida / Lleida, C19th, printed by Coromines) / The Singing Organ-Grinder | ca | 1850 | An utterly filthy song in happily impenetrable Catalan: Lo vostre cul cuan cagueu, sembla unas castañolas / Your arse when it shits, sounds like castanets. | |
Coplas novas y divertidas las cuals esplican los mals ratos que solen donar las pusas los polls y las chinchas com nu veurà lo que no sirà siego | Ramon Barrull (Lérida / Lleida, C19th, printed by Coromines) / The Singing Organ-Grinder | ca | 1850 | Broadside ballad about vermin: Las chinchas es cosa bruta, / Conforme hos he dit; / Perque se solen posar, / A los pots y banchs dels llits. | |
Once In Royal David’s City | Cecil Frances Alexander / Henry John Gauntlett | en | 1848 | ||
Limericks | Ranjit Bolt, Edward Lear et al | en | 1846-2014 | High-class doggerel. | |
Little Billee aka Little Boy Billy | William Makepeace Thackeray / Bob Roberts | en | 1845 | Cannibal shanty based on Thackeray's parody of La Courte Paille / Il était un petit navire (C16th?). There are also Catalan and Italian versions, but the best are the Portuguese Nau Catarineta, sung ceremonially in parts of Brazil, and the Dutch Ketelbinkie. I believe the latter is also based on Thackeray. The best-known English melody is that of Bob Roberts and has much in common with that in Harold Scott's English Song Book (1925). Ralph Steadman did a nice piratey version. | |
Parody of Heavenly Union | Anon | en | 1845 | Parody of Come, Saints and Sinners, Hear Me Tell, a hymn popular in the South, from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845, the Anti-Slavery Office) | |
Chiriví | Anón | ca | 1843 | Cannibal song from Barcelona's Jamancia revolt: á Cristina y Narvaez / y á tots los moderats / dintre de una paella / los freixirém plegats. | |
The teetotallers | Rev. John Mason Neale | en | 1843 | Neale was a CoE conformist activist and scourge of dissenters | |
Here we go round the mulberry bush | Trad. | en | 1840s | Games and dances | |
Per fi ya enarbolat / veyem lo san pendó, / quens diu Societat, / Fraternitat y Unió. | Societat de Teixidós de Barcelona | ca | 1840 | Himno del primer sindicato en España, la (barcelonesa) Sociedad de Tejedores / Anthem of the first trade union in Spain, the (Barcelona) Society of Weavers | |
The loving ballad of Lord Bateman | William Makepeace Thackeray / Charles Dickens | en | 1839 | Parody of a popular ballad. | |
Grace Darling, a ballad | George Lindley | en | 1838 | A great Victorian ballad for a great Victorian heroine: The danger past, her heart beats lightly, / Her silent transport no pride betrays, / Tho' grateful tears are round her falling, / And hearts are throbbing to her praise. | |
Bullangas de Barcelona | es | 1835 | Barcelona's bull-fight rebellion, during the First Carlist War: Muy espantoso es Bullánga / Lo mismo es que Satanás, / Y este con la cruz se abate / Y aquel con la ley no mas; | ||
I saw three ships | Trad. | en | 1833 | ||
¡Año fatal! ¡Año atroz! – (Pre)juicio del año 1833 | Anon | es | 1832 | Premonitions of the First Carlist War from an almanac: ¿Oís zumbar el cañon? / ¿Oís como cruje el parche? / ¡Quede estragos! ¡Qué de horrores! / Temblad míseros mortales. | |
Mary had a little lamb | Sarah Josepha Hale / Lowell Mason / Afferbeck Lauder | en | 1830 / 1965 | In 19th century English and then in 20th century Strine: So Mary Header little lamb / With vedgies and mint sauce. / 'Oh dearest lamb,' she cried, 'I am / As hungry as a horse.' | |
I love little pussy | Trad. | en | 1830 | Cats and mice | |
Ave Maria | Bach-Gounod | 1830 | With Swanee whistle | ||
Der Leiermann (Winterreise) | Wilhelm Müller / Franz Schubert | de | 1827 | The owner of a hurdy-gurdy, which is not the same as a barrel organ. | |
Cease, ye noisy Minstrels, cease | Anon | en | 1826 | Splendidly awful poem about street performers. | |
Ode to Joy / An die Freude | Schiller / Beethoven / Rowan Atkinson | de en | 1824 | Bremain would have won if they'd featured this in their ads. Perhaps. | |
Das Grab ist tief und stille (The grave is deep and silent) | Salis / Nägeli | de | 1822 | Accompanies the story 'Diogenes with his barrel-organ.' | |
Aiken Drum | Trad. | en | 1820 | Riddles and nonsense. | |
Complainte de Fualdès | Moreau et Catalan / Trad. | fr | 1818 | In 1817 a judicial official was murdered in Aveyron and hurdy-gurdies or barrel organs were used to drown out his cries. | |
The Famous Battle of Waterloo | Anon. | en | 1815 | Ballad lament | |
The patriot's hymn | Samuel Bamford | en | 1815 | Parody on God Save the King in response to Waterloo | |
The holly and the ivy | Trad. | en | 1810? | ||
Twinkle, twinkle, little star | Trad. | en | 1806 (melody 1761) | Lullabies | |
Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? | Trad. | en | 1805 | Cats and mice | |
Marmotte (Das Jahrmarktsfest zu Plundersweilern / Op. 53 no. 7) | Goethe / Beethoven | de en | 1805 | Parody of a Savoyard organ grinder and his marmot at a fair: It's many a land I've travelled through, / Avecque la marmotte, / And I always found some thing to chew, / Avecque la marmotte. | |
Polly put the kettle on | Trad. | en | 1803 | See also O du lieber Augustin. | |
The Barrel-Organ | Charles Dibdin | en | 1802 | Parody of a London German organ-grinder, who intersperses his song with other Dibdin songs: De midshipman wid de pretty girl, / He say for a tune are you willing; / So I pull out de stop and I grind and I twirl, / And all to get an odd chilling. | |
Luchinushka | Russian folk | ru | 1800ish | In the repertoire of Grigorovich's Petersburg Organ-Grinders | |
Katinka | Russian folk | ru | 1800ish | The belle of the village was Katie. In the repertoire of Grigorovich's Petersburg Organ-Grinders | |
El lobo devorador | Trad. | es | 1800 | A ravenous wolf in 19th century Spain. I don't think it's a metaphor for George Borrow: Es posible, justo cielo / que permita tu bondad / que contra el hombre se ensañe / una fiera sin piedad? | |
Guter Mond du gehst so stille, durch die Abendwolken hin (Oh, dear Moon, you go so quietly, / Through the evening clouds away) | Anon | de | 1800 | Accompanies the story 'Diogenes with his barrel-organ.' Based on the version from Ludwig Erk's 1838 folksong collection. | |
El cura enfermo | Anon | es | 1800 | Priestly love, Cadiz style: Estando un curita malito en la cama, / a la media noche llamó a la criada. / -¿Qué tiene el curita, tan deprisa llama? / -Quiero chocolate, lo quiero en la cama. | |
Voici trois Bohémiens | Provençal | fr | 1800 | Three gypsies read the palm of the baby Jesus: Tu es, c’est mon avis, Car je le lis, de Dieu le fils tout adorable. | |
O du lieber Augustin | de | 1799 | |||
Hot cross buns | Trad. | en | 1798 | Food | |
Gott erhalte unsern Kaiser! (God save our Kaiser!) | Joseph Haydn / Freiherr v. Zedlitz | de | 1797 | Austrian imperial anthem with lyrics in use around 1813 during the reign of Franz I. Accompanies the story 'Diogenes with his barrel-organ.' | |
Diddle diddle dumpling | Trad. | en | 1797 | Lullabies | |
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall | Trad. | en | 1797 | Riddles and nonsense. Some busts are for ever. | |
Tom, Tom, the piper's son | Trad. | en | 1795 | ||
The birdcatcher's song (Magic Flute) | Mozart | en | 1791 | ||
Ring a ring o' roses | Trad. | en | 1790s | Games and dances | |
Lang zal hij leven | nl | 1790? | |||
Budget day | John Freeth | 1790 | Government debt and a spendthrift establishment, but will posterity pay? | ||
Herr Bacchus | Anon | de en | 1789? | Comparisons with Apollo in a drinking song! | |
Los ayres fijos: poema didáctico en seis cantos | José Viera y Clavijo | es | 1784 | Ode to a hot-air balloon: Moradores de Nesle ¿Que es aquello / Que veis venir rasgando el Horizonte? / No es la ascencion de Ganimedes bello, / Ni el precipicio del audaz Faetonte, / Del Iris matizado no es destello, / Ni el Pegaso que dexa el doble monte; / Es la Nave Aërostática velera / De Argonautas que surcan la atmosféra. | |
The tripe eaters | John Freeth | 1782 | In his bio, on my Amazon wishlist | ||
Die Gedachte sind frei / De gedachten zijn vrij | de nl | 1780s | Freiheitslied from SW Germany (?) | ||
Abendlied | Matthias Claudius | de | 1779 | Der Mond ist aufgegangen... | |
(American) liberty song, with parody, and parody of that parody | 1768 | Tune: hearts of oak. | |||
Rock-a-bye baby | Trad. | en | 1765 | Lullabies | |
Hey diddle diddle | Trad. | en | 1765 | Riddles and nonsense. | |
La locura más discreta que se dice executó la villa de Níjar del obispado de Almería, el día trece de septiembre de este presente año de 1759 | Diego Ventura Rejón y Lucas | es | 1759 | Vía Ortega y Gasset, a tale of popular madness: Con aquestos desbaratos / toda casa esta assolada, / no dejando tales tratos, / cazos, sillas, platos, nada, / ni aun la nada entre dos platos. | |
O come, all ye faithful | Frederick Oakeley / John Francis Wade | en | 1751 (tune) / 1841 (English lyrics) | ||
London Bridge is falling down | Trad. | en | 1750ish (lyrics) / 1879 (tune) | ||
La rejouissance (Music for the royal fireworks) | Handel | 1749 | With kazoo. How can you rejoice wihout kazoos? | ||
Oranges and lemons | Trad. | en | 1744? | Games and dances | |
Mary, Mary, quite contrary | en | 1744 (lyrics) | |||
Hickory dickory dock | Trad. | en | 1744 | Cats and mice | |
Who killed Cock Robin? | Trad. | en | 1744 | One of the greatest murder songs in English: Who killed Cock Robin? / I, said the Sparrow, / with my bow and arrow, / I killed Cock Robin. | |
Sing a song of sixpence | Trad. | en | 1744 | ||
Chanson nouvelle sur les cris de Paris / New song on the cries of Paris | Anon | fr en | 1738 | Translated excerpt, featuring organ-grinders and their marmots. | |
Baa, baa, black sheep | Trad. | en | 1731 | ||
La poule (Suite in G major/G minor) | Rameau | fr | 1726? | With added chicken noises | |
Little Jack Horner | Trad. | en | 1725 | Food | |
Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre / Mal'bruk na voynu edet | Russian folk | ru fr | 1709ish | In the repertoire of Grigorovich's Petersburg Organ-Grinders | |
The dragon of Wantley | Trad. | en | 1700? | To see this fight, all people then / Got up on trees and houses, / On churches some, and chimneys too, / But these put on their trowses. | |
Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man | Trad. | en | 1698 | Food | |
Noë per tsanta à la Grand Messa / Noel to be sung at the Great Mass | Trad. | oc en | 1690? | Savoyard carol in Provençal from Bessans in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, early focus of organ-grinders and other ambulants. Features angels singing like organs and marmottes. Abridged translation into English. | |
St. George for England | John Grubb | en | 1688 | The story of King Arthur old / Is very memorable, / The number of his valiant knights, / And roundness of his table | |
Sussex Carol / On Christmas night all Christians sing | Luke Wadding / Ralph Vaughan Williams / David Willcocks | en | 1684 | ||
Here, here, here is pig and pork | en | 1680s | Irish anti-Catholic song: Giving an Account of a Father Wifely, the Popish Bishop of Kildare in Ireland, and a Shop-keeper's Wife in High-street, Dublin. | ||
Barbara Allen | Joan Baez / Jim Moray | en | 1660s? | Great song: Young man, I think you're dying. | |
To a lady that desired me I would beare my part (sic) | Richard Lovelace / The Singing Organ-Grinder | en | 1649 | First use of 'serenade' in English: What, though 'tis said I have a voice; / I know 'tis but that hollow noise / Which (as it through my pipe doth speed) / Bitterns do carol through a reed. | |
The World Turned Upside Down (melody: When the King Enjoys His Own Again) | Anon / Martin Parker | en | 1646 | A protest from the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts against Parliament's proscription of Christmas traditions. Not to be confused with the Leon Rosselson song made famous by Billy Bragg. | |
Dialogue Between a Glutton and an Echo | Anon | en | 1634 | Echo verse with audience participation. Lead: My belly I do defy. Echo: Fie! | |
A dogge of warre | John Taylor | en | 1628 | In doggrell Rimes my Lines are writ, / As for a Dogge I thought it fit. | |
O Jesulein süss! O Jesulein mild! | Georg Christian Schemelli | de en | 1620 | O little one sweet, O little one mild, thy Father's purpose thou hast fulfilled. | |
Een kindelien zo lovelik / Ein Kindelein so löbelich | Trad. | nl de | 1618 | My favourite Low German carol. | |
Heer Jesus heeft een hofken daer schoon bloemen staen | Anon | nl | 1617 | Lord Jesus has a garden with beautiful flowers ... make of my heart your garden, it is ready / Seigneur Jésus a un jardin où se trouvent de belles fleurs ... fais de mon cœur votre jardin, il est prêt / Heer Jesus heeft een hofken daer schoon bloemen staen ... maect van mijn hert' u hoveken, het is bereyt | |
O Tannenbaum / Oh Christmas tree | Ernst Anschütz / Melchior Franck | de en | 1615 | On request I will also sing the mildly smutty Low Saxon version. | |
A roaring boy's description | Samuel Rowlands | en | 1612 | London hooligans, from 'A Paire of Spy-Knaves' | |
The three ravens | Trad. | en | 1611 | A dead knight's hawks, hounds and girlfriend deny them dinner | |
Three blind mice | Trad. | en | 1609 / 1805 | Both the original and the modern versions are available | |
When that I was and a little tiny boy (Hey, ho, the wind and the rain) | William Shakespeare / John Harle | 1601 | Feste the Fool's closing song from Twelth Night. Version of Elvis Costello's version of the traditional version sung by Alfred Deller. | ||
Sweetest love, I do not goe | John Donne / Ralph Steadman / The Singing Organ-Grinder | en | 1600? | It cannot be / That thou lov'st me, as thou say'st, / If in thine my life thou waste, / That art the best of me. | |
Dale si le das, mozuela de Terrassa | Anon / Cancionero de Barbieri | es | 1600 | Early modern joke song, where the expected obscenity always turns into something inoffensive: Una mozuela de Logroño / Mostrado me habia su co.......po de lana negro que hilaba. Con una larga etcétera. | |
Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen / Lo, how a rose e'er blooming | Michael Praetorius | de en | 1599 | My favourite Marian hymn. | |
The willow song | Trad. | en | 1590s? | Desdemona sings it and then her beloved Othello murders her | |
Good King Wenceslas / Tempus adest floridum | John Mason Neale | en la | 1582 (melody) / 1853 (English lyrics) | Bohemian fantasy. | |
Ding dong bell, pussy's in the well | Trad. | en | 1580 | Cats and mice | |
Het Wilhelmus | Trad. | nl | 1570? | Naar de versie voor Dubbele Biphone die door de Leidse politie in 1940 in beslag werd genomen en in 2012 voor het eerst opnieuw werd uitgevoerd. | |
Old 100th / All people that on earth do dwell / Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir | Loys Bourgeois / William Kethe | en de | 1561 | Available in full version and in mid-C19th small organ pastiche. | |
A frog he would a wooing go | Trad. | en | 1548 | Fate | |
The hunt is up | William Gray | en | 1540? | 16th century Brexit metaphor? The hunt is up, the hunt is up, / And it is well nigh day; / And Harry our king is gone hunting, / To bring his deer to bay. | |
Coventry Carol | Robert Croo | en | 1534 (lyrics) 1591 (tune) | Herod is slaughtering the Innocents: Then woe is me, poor Child, for Thee, / And ever mourn and say; / For Thy parting, nor say nor sing, / By, by, lully, lullay. | |
Villançico contrahaziendo a los mocaros que sienpre van ynportunando a los peregrinos con demandas | Juan del Encina | lf | 1520ish | A beggars' song: the poet was in the Holy Land in ±1520 and tried to reproduce the lingua franca of the hordes of fake amputees and saints who plagued poor pilgrims there and at home: 'Benda ti istran plegrin: / benda, marqueta, maidin. / Benda, benda stringa da da / agugeta colorada. / Dali moro namorada / y ala ti da bon matin.' | |
A the syghes that cum from my hart | Anon. | en | 1500? | Farewell, my joy, and welcome pain | |
Morenica a mí me llaman | Anon | es | 1500 | Song about skin pigment from the Sephardic repertoire: 'Morenica a mí me llaman, / Yo blanca nací. / El sol del enverano / a mí me hizo ansí, / Morenica y graciosica sois.' See also: 'Aunque soy morena / no soy de olvidar / que la tierra negra / pan blanco suele dar.' And Lope: 'El astrólogo me dijo / verdad pura; que si tengo / Hijos, ajedrez serán, / Pues serán blancos y negros.' And William Blake: 'My mother bore me in the southern wild, And I am black, but O! my soul is white;' etc etc | |
Es ist ein Schnee gefallen | Anon | en de | 1467 | Wonderful translation by J.K. Annand: It's snawin cats and dugs, / Winter's owre early, / Hailstanes blatter my lugs 7 The road is smoorit fairly. | |
Der Kampf des Roraffen mit dem Hanen | Anon / The Singing Organ-Grinder | de en | 1450? | Translated excerpt from a Low German saga in which a puritanical rooster-man drives a fun-loving monkey-man out of Strasbourg Cathedral. | |
For hagese | Anon / The Singing Organ-Grinder | en | 1430 | Rhymed medieval haggis recipe: Þe hert of schepe, þe nere71 þou take, / Þo bowel no3t þou shalle forsake. | |
The cherry tree carol | Trad. | en | 1400s | Based on the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and probably basically C15th: When Joseph was an old man, / An old man was he, / He married Virgin Mary, / The Queen of Galilee. | |
In dulci jubilo | Heinrich Seuse / Robert Pearsall | en de la | 1328 | I do both the German-Latin original and the popular Pearsall Anglicisation | |
Sumer is icumen in | Anon. / Ezra Pound / Peter Firmin / Oliver Postgate | en | 1250 | Round progressing from Wessex Middle English (The bullock stirs, the stag farts, / Merrily sing, Cuckoo!) via miseryguts' Ancient Music (Winter is icumen in, / Lhude sing Goddamm) to the Bagpuss mice (We will fix it). Video, possibly from another time or person: | |
Sederunt | Pérotin | la | 1200s | Great example of organum (ca. 1200) from the master of Notre-Dame. Tenor here. Bi ther grete criyng of song, as deschaunt, countre note and orgene, thei ben lettid fro studyinge and prechynge of the gospel. | |
Sabre dance | Aram Khachaturian / Andrews Sisters | en | Pure Orientalism: Drums are booming, cellos zooming, / Cymbals crashing, sabres flashing in a willy nilly sort of way,. | ||
The worm song (nobody likes me) | en | ||||
Romance del cerco de Baza | Anon / The Singing Organ-Grinder | es | Sobre Baza estaba el rey, / lunes, después de yantar. My favourite Reconquista ballad, about the taking of Baeza in 1489. | ||
The galaxy song | Monty Python | en | This is the extent of my physics. Video, possibly from another time or person: | ||
My uncle's Sunday School | en | Lighthearted Bible education. My mum used to sing the verse about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (The Lord provides his children with an asbestos shirt). Chorus: Old folks, young folks, everbody come,/Join my uncle's Sunday School & make yourselves at home:/ Bring your sticks of chewing gum and sit upon the floor,/And we'll tell you bible stories that you never heard before Video, possibly from another time or person: | |||
Das Lied vom braven Manne (The song of the goodly man) | de | Accompanies the story 'Diogenes with his barrel-organ.' | |||
La fiera malvada de Jerusalén | Trad. | es | Ballad about mythical monsters: Dos cuernos en la cabeza / también alas que volaba / vestida como una tortuga / no la hería ninguna bala. | ||
Sociedad Antonio Maceo | Israel 'Cachao' López | es | Cha-cha | ||
Qué pena siente el alma | Violeta Parra | es | Classic Chilean organ-grinder waltz. | ||
Ford V8 | Enrique Jardiel Poncela / The Singing Organ-Grinder | es | Cuban song in praise of Henry Ford's motors: ¿Y no callé siempre y siempre me callo / los contados días que tienes un fallo? | ||
Cuando salí de la Habana | Valenciano | es | De nadie me despedí, / Solo de un perrito chino que venía tras de mí/When I left Havana I said farewell to no one - except a little Chinese dog which came after me | ||
Sinterklaasliedjes | Trad. | nl | Dutch Santa Claus songs. | ||
Jilgueros | Libertad Lamarque y Joselito | es | Finches | ||
La reina del placer | es | Habanera | |||
Micalet Garcia | Valenciano | es | He's corrupt | ||
Canción del cabo | Francisco Logroño, Cabo primero de la tercera Compañía de Ingenieros | es | Love song by a corporal in the 3rd Company of Engineers: Cuando llegará el día, / Que yo te pueda estrechar, / En los brazos de mi amor / Y en tu lecho descansar? | ||
Pican los mosquitos | El payo Juan Manuel | es | Me duelen los hue...sos | ||
El milagro de Benarrabal | Trad. | es | Muchos hay que en Dios no creen / ni a su madre la veneran / de los templos hacen mofa / y al anciano lo apedrean | ||
Bloody Orkney | Trad | en | Substitute any trochaic township. | ||
Come on chaps | Trad | en | Teasing/bragging song: Blackpool is the place for me, / a fishing from the rock. / I never use my fishing line, / I always use my... / Dainty little fingers... | ||
The first Nowell | en | Born is the King of Israel. | |||
While shepherds | en | Washed their socks by night. | |||
Fraile, fraile, comiendo | Valenciano | es | |||
Las mañanitas | es | Mexican birthday song. |
Update: 2020/04/09
I’m impressed By the repertory. Its a poem! The mixture of languges, generes, text&number…. Mindblowing.
By the way: para el caso; la pintura de los monos creo que. Es de David Tenniers, que tiene una seri de monos: escultores, pintores, constructores, orquesta, desfile, tribunal y sastrería… Etc
Dejo para el final la felicitación al artista- cantante. Congratulations
Grazie mille, maestro (busqué más info en Google)! Fue todo un placer conocerte hoy (pasa bastante gente interesante por esa plaza), y espero encontrarte la próxima vez bajo mejores condiciones técnicas!